Timeline of historic inventions

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The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly significant technological inventions and their inventors, where known.Template:Efn This page lists nonincremental inventions that are widely recognized by reliable sources as having had a direct impact on the course of history that was profound, global, and enduring. The dates in this article make frequent use of the units mya and kya, which refer to millions and thousands of years ago, respectively. Template:History of technology sidebar

Paleolithic

Template:Further The dates listed in this section refer to the earliest evidence of an invention found and dated by archaeologists (or in a few cases, suggested by indirect evidence). Dates are often approximate and change as more research is done, reported and seen. Older examples of any given technology are often found. The locations listed are for the site where the earliest solid evidence has been found, but especially for the earlier inventions, there is little certainty how close that may be to where the invention took place.

Lower Paleolithic

The Lower Paleolithic period lasted over 3 million years, during which there many human-like species evolved including toward the end of this period, Homo sapiens. The original divergence between humans and chimpanzees occurred 13 (Mya), however interbreeding continued until as recently as 4 Mya, with the first species clearly belonging to the human (and not chimpanzee) lineage being Australopithecus anamensis. Some species are controversial among paleoanthropologists, who disagree whether they are species on their own or not. Here Homo ergaster is included under Homo erectus, while Homo rhodesiensis is included under Homo heidelbergensis.

During this period the Quaternary glaciation began (about 2.58 million years ago), and continues to today. It has been an ice age, with cycles of 40–100,000 years alternating between long, cold, more glaciated periods, and shorter warmer periods – interglacial episodes.

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  • 900 kya – 40 kya: Boats<ref name="Plakias2010" >{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Middle Paleolithic

The evolution of early modern humans around 300 kya coincides with the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. During this 250,000-year period, our related archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans began to spread out of Africa, joined later by Homo sapiens. Over the course of the period we see evidence of increasingly long-distance trade, religious rites, and other behavior associated with Behavioral modernity.

Template:Cite journal "we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship."</ref>

Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic

50 kya was long regarded as the beginning of behavioral modernity, which defined the Upper Paleolithic period. The Upper Paleolithic lasted nearly 40,000 years, while research continues to push the beginnings of behavioral modernity earlier into the Middle Paleolithic. Behavioral modernity is characterized by the widespread observation of religious rites, artistic expression and the appearance of tools made for purely intellectual or artistic pursuits.

  • 49 kya – 30 kya: Ground stone tools – fragments of an axe in Australia date to 49–45 ka, more appear in Japan closer to 30 ka, and elsewhere closer to the Neolithic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>"Prehistoric Japan, New perspectives on insular East Asia", Keiji Imamura, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Template:ISBN</ref>
  • 47 kya: The oldest-known mines in the world are from Eswatini, and extracted hematite for the production of the red pigment ochre.<ref>Swaziland Natural Trust Commission, "Cultural Resources – Malolotja Archaeology, Lion Cavern", Retrieved 27 August 2007, {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The oldest known leather shoe dated to 5.5 kya was found in excellent condition in the Areni-1 cave located in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia.<ref name="National Geographic">Template:Cite news</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Medicine in a meaningful sense likely predates the human-chimpanzee split, as, for example, herbal medicine has been observed in other primates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

  • 28 kya: Ceramics (direct evidence) and weaving (impressions left in the ceramics) in Moravia<ref>"The occupants used flint knives, made bone tools and modelled in baked clay – on which they left their fingerprints, along with imprints of reindeer hair and textiles." {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"Several imprints of human fingers, animal hair and textile structures were incidentally produced as well" Template:Cite journal</ref> (Czech Republic) and Georgia. (The oldest piece of woven cloth found so far was in Çatalhöyük, Turkey and dated to about 9,000 years ago.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>)

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Agricultural and proto-agricultural eras

The end of the Last Glacial Period ("ice age") and the beginning of the Holocene around 11.7 ka coincide with the Agricultural Revolution, marking the beginning of the agricultural era, which persisted there until the industrial revolution.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Neolithic and Late Mesolithic

Template:Further During the Neolithic period, lasting 8400 years, stone began to be used for construction, and remained a predominant hard material for toolmaking. Copper and arsenic bronze were developed towards the end of this period, and of course the use of many softer materials such as wood, bone, and fibers continued. Domestication spread both in the sense of how many species were domesticated, and how widespread the practice became.

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="johnstone">The sea-craft of prehistory, p76, by Paul Johnstone, Routledge, 1980</ref>

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Evidence, c. 2800 BC, has also been found at Kalibangan, Indus Valley (modern-day India).<ref name="lal-ivc">B. B. Lal, India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization</ref>

Bronze Age

The Nippur cubit-rod, Template:C., in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey

The beginning of bronze-smelting coincides with the emergence of the first cities and of writing in the Ancient Near East and the Indus Valley. The Bronze Age starting in Eurasia in the 4th millennia BC and ended, in Eurasia, c.1200 BC.

  • Late 4th millennium BC: Writing – in Sumer and Egypt.<ref name="Radner">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"The world's earliest known writing systems emerged at more or less the same time, around 3300 bc, in Egypt and Mesopotamia (today's Iraq)."Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"Although it was once thought that the idea of writing came to Egypt from Mesopotamia, recent discoveries indicate that writing arose first in Egypt."Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"and examples of writing in Egypt have been found that very well may pre-date the earliest writing from Mesopotamia."Template:Cite book</ref>
  • 3300 BC: The first documented swords. They have been found in Arslantepe, Turkey, are made from arsenical bronze, and are about Template:Convert long.<ref>Frangipane, M. et al. (2010). "The collapse of the 4th millennium centralised system at Arslantepe and the far-reaching changes in 3rd millennium societies". ORIGINI XXXIV, 2012: 237–60.</ref><ref name=KAY>Template:Cite book</ref> Some of them are inlaid with silver.<ref name=KAY/>
  • 3300 BC: City in Uruk, Sumer, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 3250 BC: One of the earliest documented hats was worn by a man (nicknamed Ötzi) whose body and hat found frozen in a mountain between Austria and Italy. He was found wearing a bearskin cap with a chin strap, made of several hides stitched together, resembling a Russian fur hat without the flaps.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 3200 BC: Dry Latrines in the city of Uruk, Iraq, with later dry squat Toilets, that added raised fired brick foot platforms, and pedestal toilets, all over clay pipe constructed drains.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • 3200 BC: Earliest actual wheel ever found, the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel, made of wood, in Slovenia.<ref name=":4" />
  • 3000 BC: Devices functionally equivalent to dice, in the form of flat two-sided throwsticks, are seen in the Egyptian game of Senet.<ref name="Aruz">Template:Cite book</ref> Perhaps the oldest known dice, resembling modern ones, were excavated as part of a backgammon-like game set at the Burnt City, an archeological site in south-eastern Iran, estimated to be from between 2800 and 2500 BC.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Later, terracotta dice were used at the Indus Valley site of Mohenjo-daro (modern-day Pakistan).<ref>Possehl, Gregory. "Meluhha". In: J. Reade (ed.) The Indian Ocean in Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul Intl. 1996a, 133–208</ref>

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  • 2600 BC: Levee in Indus Valley.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1500 BC: Seed drill in Babylonia.<ref name="ReferenceA">History Channel, Where Did It Come From? Episode: "Ancient China: Agriculture"</ref>
  • 1400 BC: Rubber,<ref name=":3" /> Mesoamerican ballgame.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Shelton, pp. 109–110. There is wide agreement on game originating in the tropical lowlands, likely the Gulf Coast or Pacific Coast.</ref>

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Iron Age

The Late Bronze Age collapse occurs around 1200 BC,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> extinguishing most Bronze-Age Near Eastern cultures, and significantly weakening the rest. This is coincident with the complete collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation. This event is followed by the beginning of the Iron Age. We define the Iron Age as ending in 510 BC for the purposes of this article, even though the typical definition is region-dependent (e.g. 510 BC in Greece, 322 BC in India, 200 BC in China), thus being an 800-year period.Template:Efn

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With the Greco-Roman trispastos ("three-pulley-crane"), the simplest ancient crane, a single man tripled the weight he could lift than with his muscular strength alone.<ref>Hans-Liudger, Dienel; Wolfgang, Meighörner (1997): "Der Tretradkran", Technikgeschichte series, 2nd ed., Deutsches Museum, München, p. 13</ref>

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  • 500 BC: Lighthouse in Greece.<ref>Elinor Dewire and Dolores Reyes-Pergioudakis (2010). The Lighthouses of Greece. Sarasota: Pineapple Press. Template:ISBN, pp 1-5.</ref>

Classical antiquity and medieval era

5th century BC

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4th century BC

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  • 400 and 300 BC: Invention of the concept of zero in Babylon (now Iraq). It was invented independently by the Maya in the first few centuries A.D<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 4th century BC: Reed pens, utilising a split nib, were used to write with ink on Papyrus in Egypt.<ref name="O'Callaghan" />
  • 4th century BC: Nailed Horseshoe, with 4 bronze shoes found in an Etruscan tomb.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Late 4th century BC: Formal systems by Pāṇini in India, possibly during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya.<ref>Vergiani, Vincenzo (2017), "Bhartrhari on Language, Perception, and Consciousness", in Ganeri, Jonardon (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy, Oxford University Press</ref>
  • 4th to 3rd century BC: Zinc production in North-Western India during the Maurya Empire.<ref>Craddock et al. 1983. (The earliest evidence for the production of zinc comes from India. Srinivasan, Sharda and Srinivasa Rangnathan. 2004)</ref> The earliest known zinc mines and smelting sites are from Zawar, near Udaipur, in Rajasthan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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3rd century BC

An illustration depicting the papermaking process in Han dynasty China.

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The earliest fore-and-aft rigs, spritsails, appeared in the 2nd century BC in the Aegean Sea on small Greek craft.<ref name="Casson 1995, 243–245">Casson, Lionel (1995): "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World", Johns Hopkins University Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 243–245</ref> Here a spritsail used on a Roman merchant ship (3rd century AD).

2nd century BC

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1st century BC

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  • 1st century BC: Arch dam (Glanum Dam) in Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Republic (see also List of Roman dams)<ref>Smith, Norman (1971): "A History of Dams", Peter Davies, London, Template:ISBN, pp. 25–49 (33–35)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1978): "Römische Talsperren", Antike Welt, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 25–32 (31f.)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1987): "Verzeichnis geschichtlicher Talsperren bis Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts", in: Garbrecht, Günther (ed.): Historische Talsperren, Verlag Konrad Wittwer, Stuttgart, Vol. 1, Template:ISBN, pp. 9–20 (12)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1987): "Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Bogenstaumauer", Garbrecht, Günther (ed.): Historische Talsperren, Vol. 1, Verlag Konrad Wittwer, Stuttgart, Template:ISBN, pp. 75–96 (80)</ref><ref>Hodge, A. Trevor (2000): "Reservoirs and Dams", in: Wikander, Örjan: Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, Template:ISBN, pp. 331–339 (332, fn. 2)</ref>
  • Before 40 BC: Trip hammer in China<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 184" >Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 184.</ref>
  • 37 BC – 14 BC: Glass blowing developed in Jerusalem.<ref name="Avigad">Avigad, N (1983). Discovering Jerusalem. Nashville. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Tattona">Tatton-Brown, V. (1991). "The Roman Empire". In H. Tait (ed.) Five Thousand Years of Glass. pp. 62–97. British Museum Press: London Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Stern">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Before 25 BC: Reverse overshot water wheel by Roman engineers in Rio Tinto, Spain<ref>Davies, Oliver: Roman Mines in Europe, Oxford (1935)</ref>
  • 25 BC: Noodle in Lajia in China<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

1st century AD

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2nd century

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3rd century

Schematic of the Roman Hierapolis sawmill. Dated to the 3rd century AD, it is the earliest known machine to incorporate a crank and connecting rod mechanism.<ref name="Ritti, Grewe, Kessener 2007, 140, 161">Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul (2007): "A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications", Journal of Roman Archaeology, Vol. 20, pp. 138–163 (140, 161)</ref><ref name="Grewe 2009, 429">Grewe, Klaus (2009): "Die Reliefdarstellung einer antiken Steinsägemaschine aus Hierapolis in Phrygien und ihre Bedeutung für die Technikgeschichte. Internationale Konferenz 13.−16. Juni 2007 in Istanbul" Template:Webarchive, in: Bachmann, Martin (ed.): Bautechnik im antiken und vorantiken Kleinasien, Byzas, Vol. 9, Ege Yayınları/Zero Prod. Ltd., Istanbul, Template:ISBN, pp. 429–454 (429)</ref><ref name="Grewe 2010">Grewe, Klaus (2010): "La máquina romana de serrar piedras. La representación en bajorrelieve de una sierra de piedras de la antigüedad, en Hierápolis de Frigia y su relevancia para la historia técnica (translation by Miguel Ordóñez)", in: Las técnicas y las construcciones de la Ingeniería Romana, V Congreso de las Obras Públicas Romanas, pp. 381–401</ref>
  • By at least the 3rd century: Crystallized sugar in India.<ref>Shaffer, Lynda N., "Southernization", Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History edited by Michael Adas, pp. 311, Temple University Press, Template:ISBN.</ref>
  • Early 3rd century: Woodblock printing is invented in Han dynasty China at sometime before 220 AD. This made China become the world's first print culture.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Late 3rd century – Early 4th century: Water turbine in the Roman Empire in modern-day Tunisia.<ref>Wilson, Andrew (1995): "Water-Power in North Africa and the Development of the Horizontal Water-Wheel", Journal of Roman Archaeology, Vol. 8, pp. 499–510 (507f.)</ref><ref>Wikander, Örjan (2000): "The Water-Mill" in: Wikander, Örjan (ed.): Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, Template:ISBN, pp. 371–400 (377)</ref><ref>Donners, K.; Waelkens, M.; Deckers, J. (2002): "Water Mills in the Area of Sagalassos: A Disappearing Ancient Technology", Anatolian Studies, Vol. 52, pp. 1–17 (13)</ref>

4th century

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  • 4th century: Roman Dichroic glass, which displays one of two different colors depending on lighting conditions.
  • 4th century: Simple suspension bridge, independently invented in Pre-Columbian South America, and the Hindu Kush range, of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. With Han dynasty travelers noting bridges being constructed from 3 or more vines or 3 ropes.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 3 187−189">Needham, Joseph. (1986d). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. Template:ISBN, 187–189.</ref> Later bridges constructed utilizing cables of iron chains appeared in Tibet.<ref name="Peters">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"suspension bridge" in Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref>
  • 4th century: Fishing reel in Ancient China: In literary records, the earliest evidence of the fishing reel comes from a 4th-century AD<ref>Hucker (1975), 206.</ref> work entitled Lives of Famous Immortals.<ref>Ronan (1994), 41.</ref>
  • 347: Oil Wells and Borehole drilling in China. Such wells could reach depths of up to 240 m (790 ft).<ref name=ASTM>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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5th century

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A Nepali Charkha in action

6th century

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  • 589: Toilet paper in Sui dynasty China, first mentioned by the official Yan Zhitui (531–591), with full evidence of continual use in subsequent dynasties.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 123">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 123.</ref><ref>Hunter (1978), 207.</ref>

7th century

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8th century

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9th century

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A Mongol bomb thrown against a charging Japanese samurai during the Mongol invasions of Japan after founding the Yuan dynasty, 1281.
  • 9th century: Gunpowder in Tang dynasty China: Gunpowder is, according to prevailing academic consensus, discovered in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality.<ref name="Jack Kelly 2005">Jack Kelly Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, Perseus Books Group: 2005, Template:ISBN, 9780465037223: pp. 2-5</ref> Evidence of gunpowder's first use in China comes from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (618–907).<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 8–9, 80–82.</ref> The earliest known recorded recipes for gunpowder are written by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and Yang Weide in the Wujing Zongyao, a military manuscript compiled in 1044 during the Song dynasty (960–1279).<ref>Needham (1987), Volume 5, Part 7, 70–73, 120–124.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 311">Gernet (1996), 311.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 785.</ref>
  • 9th century: Playing card in Tang dynasty China<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name="wilkinson">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="lo 2000 390">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb "it is also now rather well-established that dominoes and playing-cards were originally Chinese developments from dice."</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb "Numbered dice, anciently widespread, were on a related line of development which gave rise to dominoes and playing-cards (+9th-century China)."</ref>

10th century

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11th century

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  • 11th century: Early versions of the Bessemer process are developed in China.
  • 11th century: Endless power-transmitting chain drive by Su Song for the development an astronomical clock (the Cosmic Engine)<ref name="needham volume 4 111">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 111.</ref>
  • 11th century: Calico was developed in Calicut, India.<ref name="eb-calico2">Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). "calico".</ref>
  • 1088: Movable type in Song dynasty China: The first record of a movable type system is in the Dream Pool Essays, which attributes the invention of the movable type to Bi Sheng.<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 201–202.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 335">Gernet (1996), 335.</ref><ref name="bowman 2000 599">Bowman (2000), 599.</ref><ref name="day mcneil 70">Day & McNeil (1996), 70.</ref>

12th century

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13th century

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  • 13th century: Rocket for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 13th century: The earliest form of mechanical escapement, the verge escapement in Europe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • 13th century: Buttons (combined with buttonholes) as a functional fastening for closing clothes appear first in Germany.<ref>Lynn White: "The Act of Invention: Causes, Contexts, Continuities and Consequences", Technology and Culture, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 486–500 (497f. & 500)</ref>
  • 13th century: Explosive bomb in Jin dynasty Manchuria: Explosive bombs are used in 1221 by the Jin dynasty against a Song dynasty city.<ref name="Connolly">Template:Cite book</ref> The first accounts of bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder are documented in the 13th century in China and are called "thunder-crash bombs",<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 170–174.</ref> coined during a Jin dynasty naval battle in 1231.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 171">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 171.</ref>
  • 13th century: Hand cannon in Yuan dynasty China: The earliest hand cannon dates to the 13th century based on archaeological evidence from a Heilongjiang excavation. There is also written evidence in the Yuanshi (1370) on Li Tang, an ethnic Jurchen commander under the Yuan dynasty who in 1288 suppresses the rebellion of the Christian prince Nayan with his "gun-soldiers" or chongzu, this being the earliest known event where this phrase is used.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 293–294.</ref>
  • 13th century: Earliest documented snow goggles, a type of sunglasses, made of flattened walrus or caribou ivory are used by the Inuit peoples in the arctic regions of North America.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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14th century

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The 15th-century invention of the printing press with movable type by the German Johannes Gutenberg.<ref>See People of the Millennium for an overview of the wide acclaim. In 1999, the A&E Network ranked Gutenberg no. 1 on their "People of the Millennium" countdown. In 1997, Time–Life magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second millennium Template:Webarchive; the same did four prominent US journalists in their 1998 resume 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking The Men and Women Who Shaped The Millennium. The Johann Gutenberg entry of the Catholic Encyclopedia describes his invention as having made a practically unparalleled cultural impact in the Christian era.</ref>

15th century

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Early modern era

16th century

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17th century

A 1609 title page of the Relation, the world's first newspaper (first published in 1605)<ref name="World Association of Newspapers"/><ref name="Weber 2006, 396f."/>

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18th century

  • 1709: Bartolomeo Cristofori crafts the first piano, which became a leading instrument of Western art music<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1769: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot invents the first steam-powered vehicle capable of carrying passengers, an early car<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1776: John Wilkinson invents a mechanical air compressor that would become the prototype for all later mechanical compressors<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Agnew, J. (2024). The nineteenth century evolution of the threshing machine in Britain. The International Journal for the History of Engineering &amp; Technology, 94(2), 152–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/17581206.2024.2391455</ref>

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  • 1796: Alois Senefelder invents the lithography printing technique.<ref name="meggspage146">Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. p 146 Template:ISBN</ref>
  • 1796: Edward Jenner invented the vaccine and inoculates an individual for smallpox<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Late modern period

19th century

1800s

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1810s

Karl von Drais on his original Laufmaschine, the earliest two-wheeler, or hobbyhorse, in 1819
  • 1810: Nicolas Appert invents the canning process for food.<ref>Applied Nutrition and Food Technology, Jesse D. Dagoon, 1989; p. 2.</ref>
  • 1810: Abraham-Louis Breguet creates the first wristwatch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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1820s

  • 1822: Thomas Blanchard invents the pattern-tracing lathe (actually more like a shaper). The lathe can copy symmetrical shapes and is used for making gun stocks, and later, ax handles.<ref name="Thomson 2009">Template:Cite book

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1830s

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1840s

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  • 1841: Alexander Bain devises a printing telegraph.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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1850s

  • 1850: William Armstrong invents the hydraulic accumulator.
  • 1851: George Jennings offers the first public flush toilets, accessible for a penny per visit, and in 1852 receives a UK patent for the single piece, free standing, earthenware, trap plumed, flushing, water-closet.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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1860s

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1870s

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  • 1878: Henry Fleuss is granted a patent for the first practical rebreather.<ref name=rebreather_hx>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • 1878: Lester Allan Pelton invents the Pelton wheel, a type of water turbine.
  • 1879: Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison both patent a functional incandescent light bulb.<ref name=":6" /> Some two dozen inventors had experimented with electric incandescent lighting over the first three-quarters of the 19th century but never came up with a practical design.<ref>Friedel, Robert, and Paul Palestine. 1986. Edison's electric light: biography of an invention. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. pages 115–117</ref> Swan's, which he had been working on since the 1860s, had a low resistance so was only suited for small installations. Edison designed a high-resistance bulb as part of a large-scale commercial electric lighting utility.<ref>Kenneth E. Hendrickson III, The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History, Volume 3, Rowman & Littlefield – 2014, page 564</ref><ref>Maury Klein, The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America, Bloomsbury Publishing USA – 2010, Chapter 9 – The Cowbird, The Plugger, and the Dreamer</ref><ref>David O. Whitten, Bessie Emrick Whitten, Handbook of American Business History: Manufacturing, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990, pages 315-316</ref>

1880s

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1890s

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20th century

1900s

premiere fois dans la revue ` l'aerophile ´ dans un article intitule "Propulseur par reaction directe"...", accessed 7 July 2019</ref> – R. Lorin<ref name="Lorin">Lorin, René (1877–1933), Digital Mechanism and Gear Library, first contact for: "1913 – Lorin" (Margaret Connor) obtained via search criteria (google): "discovery of scramjet Frank Whittle", accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>R. Lorin (15 May 1913) – de la turbine a gaz au propulseur a reaction, pp.229–230, L'Aérophile; BnF Gallica, accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>Michael G. Smith (1 December 2014) — Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight, 7th page of Chapter 3, University of Nebraska Press, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN, accessed 7 July 2019</ref>

1910s

1920s

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1930s

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1940-1944

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Contemporary history

1945-1950

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1950s

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1960s

The original 0 series Shinkansen train. Introduced in 1964, it reached a speed of Template:Convert.

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1970s

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  • 1977: Dr Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger invented a new DNA sequencing method for which they won the Nobel Prize.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • 1977: The first self-driving car that did not rely upon rails or wires under the road is designed by the Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Laboratory.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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1980s

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  • 1982: The first laptop computer is launched, the 8/16-bit Epson HX-20.<ref name="ipsj">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1983: Ameritech, now known as AT&T, commercialized the Bell System (its cellular network) in Chicago, Ill.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1989: Karlheinz Brandenburg would publish the audio compression algorithms that would be standardised as the: MPEG-1, layer 3 (mp3), and later the MPEG-2, layer 7 Advanced Audio Compression (AAC).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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1990s

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  • 1991: The first sim card is developed by Munich smart-card maker Giesecke & Devrient<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1994: A Tetris variant on the Hagenuk MT-2000 device becomes the first mobile game<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1996: Mobile web was first commercially offered in Finland on the Nokia 9000 Communicator phone, and it was also the first phone with texting<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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21st century

2000s

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2010s

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2020s

  • 2020: The first MRNA vaccine to be approved by public health medicines regulators is co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for COVID-19, with the potential to treat other diseases and cancer<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2020: OpenAI demonstrated an Artificial Intelligence model called GPT-3. The program was created to generate human-like responses when given prompts.<ref>Kissinger, Henry; Schmidt, Eric; Huttenlocher, Daniel P. (2021). The age of AI: and our human future. Schuyler Schouten (First edition ed.). New York Boston London: Little, Brown and Company. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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See also

By type

Notes

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Footnotes

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References

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  • Bourbaki, Nicolas (1998). Elements of the History of Mathematics. Berlin, Heidelberg, and New York: Springer-Verlag. Template:ISBN.
  • Bowman, John S. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Buisseret, David. (1998). Envisioning the City: Six Studies in Urban Cartography. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Day, Lance and Ian McNeil. (1996). Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. New York: Routledge. Template:ISBN.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN (paperback).
  • Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
  • Elisseeff, Vadime. (2000). The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce. New York: Berghahn Books. Template:ISBN.
  • Template:Hounshell1984
  • Hucker, Charles O. (1975). China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University. Template:ISBN.
  • Hunter, Dard (1978). Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc. Template:ISBN.
  • Gernet, Jacques (1962). Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276. Translated by H.M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Gernet, Jacques. (1996). A History of Chinese Civilization. Translated by J.R. Foster and Charles Hartman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Kreutz, Barbara M. (1973) "Mediterranean Contributions to the Medieval Mariner's Compass", Technology and Culture, 14 (3: July), p. 367–383
  • Lo, Andrew. "The Game of Leaves: An Inquiry into the Origin of Chinese Playing Cards", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 63, No. 3 (2000): 389–406.
  • Loewe, Michael. (1968). Everyday Life in Early Imperial China during the Han Period 202 BC–AD 220. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
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  • Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.,1986 Template:ISBN
  • Needham, Joseph (1962). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology; Part 1, Physics. Cambridge University Press., reprinted Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. (1986)
  • Needham, Joseph and Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin. (1985). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1, Paper and Printing. Cambridge University Press., reprinted Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. (1986)
  • Needham, Joseph. (1987). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic. Cambridge University Press.
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  • Pigott, Vincent C. (1999). The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Template:ISBN.
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  • Ronan, Colin A. (1994). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Sivin, Nathan (1995). Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections. Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing.
  • Stark, Miriam T. (2005). Archaeology of Asia. Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub. Template:ISBN.
  • Template:Citation
  • Wagner, Donald B. (1993). Iron and Steel in Ancient China: Second Impression, With Corrections. Leiden: E.J. Brill. Template:ISBN.
  • Wagner, Donald B. (2001). The State and the Iron Industry in Han China. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Publishing. Template:ISBN.
  • Wang, Zhongshu. (1982). Han Civilization. Translated by K.C. Chang and Collaborators. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Wood, Nigel. (1999). Chinese Glazes On The Coast: Their Origins, Chemistry, and Recreation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Template:ISBN.

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